Words and pictures from the author of the Elizabeth Goodweather Appalachian Mysteries

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Novels in the Making

I kind of hated to leave the warm house yesterday afternoon. The weather was perfect for the Canada geese at river -- not so much for driving.

But I soldiered on into Asheville, wipers slapping, defroster roaring, to be there for the final meeting of my fall fiction workshop. There were five separate first or second chapters awaiting the class's attention. Obviously I had no choice.

After a quick stop at Accent on Books to pick up another box of Christmas cards (I always forget how many friends we exchange cards with,) I called on my friend Josie to chat and have a cup of tea in our usual pre-class ritual. And while I was comfortably ensconced on her love seat, outside the window the sky began to clear and do wonderful things.

Speaking of wonderful things (note clever transition,) this has been an especially talented class. And wildly diverse in their choice of subject matter too. We've got women's fiction, alternative history (Revolutionary War,) cozy mystery, drug cartel thriller, paranormalish thriller, past life regression story, straight mystery, historical fiction (pirates Mary Read and Ann Bonney and the foppish Captain Jack Rackham, for whom someone in class came up with the term swishbuckler. Which cracked us all up. Then I found out, courtesy Mr. Google, that it's a known term and there's a movie of that name coming out soon. We thought we were so clever.)

Once again, the class has been fun. I feel privileged to share what little I know about this baffling business and hope that I help my students some and pray that I don't discourage them any.

Except for the money part -- I do always warn them that they better not quit their day jobs.

Years ago, during a local radio interview, the show host (my newspaper editor at the time) asked if I was bothered about this week's article being tomorrow's fish and chip wrapping. The answer was no then and it's still no today. Writers write and more power to them for that.

I have such admiration for good writers. From my little post I can see how difficult it is to find the right word. I am never satisfied with my posts as I find them too flat and elementary and wish my prose was more flowing. I like your picture of the tree branches and the bit of sky behind – it does look cool in both sense of the word.

Doggone that money thing anyway. Want/need of it inhibits too much reality. Money's only printed paper or today, digital. Thankfully Shakespeare didn't stop writing for want of money. Would love to be a fly on the wall during those workshops, but then I'm sure I'd not be content to sit on the wall and somebody'd swat me as I buzzed excitedly or circled in for a better view.

It's a joy to me to watch what was, in some cases, an amorphous bunch of ideas begin to sound like a story. It's wonderful to get to the end of a piece and find myself wishing there were more. And now and then there are some Oh Wow moments that blow me away.

It's also terrific to hear what good ideas the class has for getting a piece back on track when it's wandering.

I think Shakespeare actually made a living with his writing -- not something that many writers (including myself) can claim. There are lots of us slaving away for the love of the craft and/or with the hope of the elusive brass ring someday.

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Who Am I? What Am I Doing Here?

I'm the author of The Elizabeth Goodweather Full Circle Farm Appalachian Mysteries from Bantam Dell. The series includes SIGNS IN THE BLOOD (LA MONTAGNE DES SECRETS in France), ART'S BLOOD, (LE SECRET DES APPALACHES in France,) OLD WOUNDS,IN A DARK SEASON (Anthony Nominee, Best PBO), and UNDER THE SKIN. There's also THE DAY OF SMALL THINGS (a spinoff/standalone)chronicling the unexpected life story of Miss Birdie, one of Elizabeth's neighbors.
Currently I have just completed a historical novel, dealing with a massacre in my county during the Civil War.
I came to this weird business late (my first novel was published in 2005) and am still trying to figure it out.
As my novels are set in a place much like my real life home, I thought I'd use this blog to share pictures of our farm and county. I've been blogging for nearly nine years now, on an almost daily basis, and the topics have ranged from writing, chickens, food, books, quilts, flora and fauna of all sorts, to the occasional tiny rant. There's no plan, but there are lots of pictures.
There's more information about me and my books on my web site: http://vickilanemysteries.com/